Colin Jost
Sasheer Zamata
[Starts with Colin Jost in his set]
Colin Jost: Larry Wilmore hosted the White House Correspondence dinner last Saturday. He ended his speech by calling the president the N word which got a lot of people talking. Here to comment is our very own Sasheer Zamata.
[Sasheer Zamata slides in]
Sasheer Zamata: Hey. Hi, Colin.
Colin Jost: Hi, Sasheer. So, what do you think about what Larry Wilmore said?
Sasheer Zamata: Well, here’s the thing. There were more white people upset than black people. [Cut to Sasheer Zamata] And the white people are the reason why that word is bad. FOX News had white people condemning it who definitely say it off camera. I’m amazed this is the first time someone called him the N word on TV. People have called the president the N word online for years. Just look at the comment sections of videos of him playing basketball, or pardoning a turkey, or a cat video. Besides, you can make any word terrible. If the word McGriddle was linked to slavery, we’d feel differently about that too. And I don’t want to be the reason why the people are mad at us this week. So instead of saying the N word, I’ll use ‘McGriddle’.
[Cut to Sasheer Zamata and Colin Jost]
Colin Jost: I’m sorry, McGriddle? Don’t take that word away from me. Can I still say McGrida?
Sasheer Zamata: [yelling] No! Maybe, if you really want to.
Colin Jost: Thank you.
[Cut to Sasheer Zamata]
Sasheer Zamata: Now, I got called McGriddle once in my life, thankfully. I was walking down the street with a friend and this dirty pickup truck comes barreling down the road. And this man yells, “Y’all McGriddles need to get on a boat and take your black asses back to McDonald’s.”
[Cut to Sasheer Zamata and Colin Jost]
Colin Jost: So, McDonald’s is Africa?
Sasheer Zamata: Yeah.
[Cut to Sasheer Zamata]
I’m trying to make this analogy work. He had a confederate flag, vanity plate, truck nuts and a very red face. And I was like– He had all the things. It’s like he walked into a store and said, “I need to look as racist as I feel.” But he was old school racist. And at least he was upfront about it. That’s how I like my racists. Easily identifiable. These days people won’t publicly say the McG word but they’ll say thinly veiled words like thug, or ghetto, or athletic. I don’t know for– [pointing at the audience] Some people really liked that. [laughing] I don’t know if we’re ever gonna agree on the use of that word. I do know that word has a lot of history behind it. And if we ignore it, it feels like we’re ignoring the history.
[Cut to Sasheer Zamata and Colin Jost]
And I don’t like to ignore history.
Colin Jost: And so then, can we say it? Or…
Sasheer Zamata: It’s up to you, nigga!
Colin Jost: Back to you, Michael.
Sasheer Zamata: [laughing] Don’t be mad, it’s my birthday.
Colin Jost: Happy birthday. Sasheer Zamata, everyone.